Gamer Boy
by The Cringe
Summary: Harry is born again as Jared Higdon, a teen who lives in Cali with his mom and dad. Magic, technology, aurors, and more. Warning! - Language, AU themes, etc. Disclaimer! - I do not own Harry Potter or any of the games I mentioned in the story. Multi games mention. M for safety.
1. Beginning's and OSU

**Disclaimer! I don't own Harry Potter, Fallout, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, or OSU!**

* * *

"Well," stated Death, "you know how this goes…"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes. Just transport me to the next life… Please."

Death chuckled at his favored child and with a wave of his hand, Harry Potter – who has been known by many different names before – was whisked away by the power of death, to his next life.

Harry smiled as he saw the swirling tunnel of white and gold, and with a breath, he was born.

* * *

Chapter 1

~ Beginning's and Gaming: Random, Right? ~

Jared – also known as Harry Potter – was sitting in his room, preparing for the day ahead, when he smiled. He had been born to a muggle family in the year 1998. Like always, his birthday was July 31st. That would never change.

His family was a nice one. He had two loving parents and was an only child. His mom, as he found out, wasn't able to have children. Death, like always, would put Jared into situations where he was considered a 'Miracle Child'. Whether it's by many people or a few, Death just loved making him special.

His looks in this life were a healthy mix between his mom and dad. He had his dad's sandy blonde hair and his mom's fair skin completion. He had Lily's vibrant green eyes, as always. He was tall, from his dad's side, and had a high metabolism. His face was chiseled with high cheek bones and doe eyes. He had his mom's turned up nose and average ears. He was also somewhat athletic, which he got from both of his parents.

His family lived in a respectable two-story home in the States. They lived in California to be specific. His dad, Jeffery Higden, was a set designer and producer for many of the movies filmed in their area. Jared's mom, Lindsey Higden, worked as an animator for some of the movies and video games at Disney Studios. Jared, in this life, wasn't so keen on taking after his parents.

Don't get the wrong idea, Jared loved his parents in this life, but he was feeling particular lazy in this life. Because he was an only child, and because his parents were so successful, they had no problem getting him started in video games at a young age.

Jared got his first game when he was just eight years old. His dad had brought home a Gameboy and Jared fell instantly in love with the concept of having a lazy, calm life.

Jared was now 17 years old and was big into gaming. He played everything from Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) to Fallout to OSU. He was actually working on being a professional gamer, not really wanting to be a part of the magical community in this life.

Like always, he still had his magic, and like always, he hated that he had to develop it from the beginning. Death thought it was funny, but Jared guessed that it was a good thing he had to anyway; it kept him from getting too bored and completely losing it.

He swerved back and forth in his desk chair, summoning a glass of water. In the states, children were allowed to use magic in their homes, but weren't allowed to use magic outside of their homes until they graduated from their school.

He attended Salem School of Wizardry in Massachusetts, but it was only a day school. Unlike the European schools, America had many wizarding and witchcraft schools. None of them were boarding schools and you could arrive in the morning via any transportation method offered by the school of choose. Salem had a boy's campus and a girl's campus. Every morning, Jared would dress in his uniform – khaki's, a white dress shirt, Salem school tie, and his navy blue school jacket – and arrive by floo. School started at 7:30 in the morning, every morning, Monday through Friday, and ended at 2:15. On Mondays, Wednesday's and Friday's they were taught to use their magic. On Tuesday's and Thursday's they were taught muggle courses. This was so they could function in both the muggle world and the wizarding world.

America's wizarding world was also more advanced than Britain's. They had all the latest technology, with some magical protections against viruses and other similar things. This help Jared a lot, as he was able to buy a computer and cellphone that wouldn't combust just because he wanted to cast a spell.

Jared's parents had first discovered their son's magical talent because of a technology related mishap. Jared had been focused on his Gameboy when his mom had come in. He had jumped when she called out to him, not realizing she was there, and the scare jolted his still developing magic into the game.

Not only had the Gameboy exploded, but Jared started seeing things. When he would complete a task around the house he would see a glowing sign in front of him saying, "Task Complete! +15 XP." Unlucky for him, his parents could apparently see it too.

His parents immediately started looking for answers, not letting him leave the house for a week. Then, low and behold, a man came knocking at their door. This day had also been the boy's 11th birthday.

Yada, yada, yada, and Jared got "the Talk" all over again. He, like always, resisted the urge to role his eyes. His parents were a little skeptical, but still loved their precious Jared all the same. It wasn't long after that his "Gamer Boy Syndrome," as healers liked to call it, was corrected.

Jared gave a small laugh at the memory and sipped his newly summoned water as his door creaked open.

"Is that laughter I here?" His dad came in and sat in the comfy chair he had set beside Jared's desk so he could watch his son when he gamed.

"Yeah," was Jared's reply. His voice was deep, like his dad's, and had a rumbling to it.

"So, what are we playing?" Jeffery rubbed his hands together and leaned forward slightly.

Jared rolled his eyes, "You mean: What am _I_ playing?" They both chuckled. Jared leaned down and pulled open one of his desk drawers. He the grabbed his tablet and pen, setting them on the desk. "I was thinking of playing OSU. It's been a while since I've played it."

The older blonde nodded and smiled. This was his favorite game out of all the ones his son played, because he loved hearing the clicking of the keys to the beat of the latest electronic songs.

The teen plugged everything up and ran the game. "Welcome to Osu!" The game greeted them, through the speakers, with its happy music tune. That was soon interrupted as Jared clicked "Play" and scrolled threw all of the songs in his inventory.

Jared picked "High Score" and double clicked. Before the song started, he went through his routine of clicking his fingers against the "1" and "2" keys on his NUM pad to the rhythm of the song. He had played this song many times, and had just a few months ago gotten an SS on all of the difficulties. He un-paused the song and began. He tapped his foot to the rhythm as his fingers clicked the two keys. His other hand expertly moving the pen across the tablet with easy.

When he finished the song he looked to his dad who congratulated him. "You did really well this time! Good job. I wouldn't have guessed that you hadn't played in a while.

They both smiled and Jared's mom walked in. She leaned down and hugged her son, "Good afternoon, JJ. You missed breakfast..."

Jared slumped in her arms and gave an uneasy smile to his dad.

"Lindsey," his dad said, "come on, leave the boy alone, I was only breakfast. Besides, you missed our morning kiss." The man had a smug look on his face and the teen could feel his mom's short arms tighten ever so slightly.

"O-oh. Did I?" She detached from her son and rubbed the back of her neck, a silly grin making its way to her lips, "Oops?"

Jeffery laughed and stood from his spotted on the chair, scooping his wife up, throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her out. Jared laughed at his mom's pleas for help, even though she was laughing too.

The blonde teen got up and followed them to his door, "You two have fun, but not _too_ loud, I'm getting on TeamSpeak (TS) with my friends later!"

"Jared!" He heard his mom shout. He closed his door, muffling his dad's louder laughter.

He sat down, a big smile on his face, and shut down OSU, opening up CS: GO and TS. He really wasn't in the mood though... Maybe some Fallout? Yeah, maybe...

* * *

Chapter 1

~ End Beginning's and Gaming: **Relevant?** ~


	2. Harry Surfaces?

Chapter 2

~ Harry Surfaces ~

* * *

Jared rolled his eyes. He had planned on staying away from the whole 'hero complex' this time around. But doesn't he always? In celebration for their graduation from Salem, Jared and his school friends, who also lived in Cali, had been in the middle of a community soccer tournament when two rouge wizards showed up.

During their last year of schooling some of the prisoners in the American Azkaban branch escaped, let out by one of the many rough Death Eaters roaming around. Jared would have thought that Britain had rounded all of them up after Voldemort died. Death had told him that the man was dead for good, as well as the rest of his lackeys. Had Death been lying?

"No. I would never lie." Jared whipped around and glowered.

"Then why are they here?" He pointed to the two unconscious bodies. One of the bodies had a dark mark; the other was wearing an American prison uniform.

Death sighed, "I told you they were all dead, I didn't tell you when they all died…"

Jared swiped his hand at Death and the entity disappeared. Jared was not in the mood for this.

He had knocked the Death Eater out first after feeling a spell whip by his shoulder. It had been a cutting hex and was lucky to have been diving for the ball. Though, one of his friends hadn't been so lucky when it scraped his upper arm.

Out of anger - and his hero complex: his mind grumbled – he shot out a Stupefy at the Death Eater and then kicked the soccer ball, that had rolled towards him, strait into the prisoners face, knocking him out cold.

It wasn't long after that the auror's arrived. They dealt with the muggles and Jared's injured friend first, then went on to questioning the wizards and witches who were present – wizards and witches were a common run in in the muggle world, as being prejudice was a taboo.

When Jared was questioned he admitted to stopping the roughs and using magic in the presence of a muggle.

"You'll have to come with us, I'm afraid." The auror, Sr. Chief Evergreen, said as he placed hand cuffs around Jared's wrists.

"Yes, sir."

"Wait!" Jared's mom called out, "He was only helping, please!"

The auror nodded, turning to Lindsey, "Yes, ma'am. We know, and this will be taken into consideration. Just know that the amount of time he spends with us will be a night at most, but I highly doubt that." He then turned to Jared, "Your son knew he was breaking a law, and even though he was doing it to protect everyone, he still has to be punished."

Jared nodded, "Yeah, mom. I don't mind, I knew what the consequences would be."

His dad then jogged up from where he had just been questioned by another auror. He placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, "It's okay, Lin. Just one night, and that _if_ they think he needs it."

The women nodded her head and hugged her sun, who had to awkwardly bend his knees and lean his head on her shoulder.

The auror nodded to him and Jared nodded back. The friends had all been standing to the side, trying to get to him, but they knew it would only cause a scene, and more trouble, that what it was worth.

Jared then felt the pull of a portkey. He still hated this form of transportation. He had caught himself before he fell and striated himself. The auror motioned for him to follow, where he was lead into what he assumed to be the man's office.

"I am going to give you good and bad news, and because I know the story, and know you are _not_ a criminal by any means, I'll let you decide which one you want to hear first."

Jared's brow furrowed. He had broken a law, which made him a criminal regardless of the circumstances, right? "Bad."

The auror nodded, a flash of respect in his eyes, "Good choice, get the hard work out of the way first." The man crossed his hands over his desk and looked at the teen. "The law you broke was probably one that we feel is the most unforgivable; however, because of self-defense rules and regulations, you will not be charged as a criminal, but as a self-defense case. The bad part of that is that you will have to serve a punishment."

Jared's brow furrowed more: That was the bad news? He thought to himself. He waited for more, but when the hardened adult stayed silent he spoke, "And the good news?"

The man's lips turned up slightly, "I, being the Sr. Chief, am in charge of your case. I have two options for you." The man paused to write something on a piece of paper, sliding it over to the teen when he was done. "If you need time to think over it…"

Jared read the paper twice, then three times. He promised himself he wouldn't get involved this time. In his shock he broke the cuffs and grabbed the paper: This was Death's idea, he knew it was.

He heard the auror laugh and Jared looked up. "I knew I made the right choose to give you the first option. So what do you say?"

Jared didn't understand until he noticed his hands were free, vaguely recalled he had done that. He looked back down at the paper, and with shaking hand, he handed it back.

"I… I'll do it." Jared cringed. Why? Why did it always resort to this?

The auror laughed and held out his hand for Jared to shake. "Welcome to the American auror system, Mr. Potter."

It was later that day; Jared lay on his bed in his room. He had been transported back to his parents' house later in the evening after getting all the paper work finalized. He was a special class auror, in the "Secret Service Department," or SSD, as they called it. According to Kevin, Sr. Chief Evergreen had told Jared to call him, when his team was told to investigate his case; they had been impressed by the teens' quick thinking. As for how they knew who he really was: they had been one of the few American teams to be sent off to Hogwarts, in Scotland, to help the auror's capture as many Death Eaters as possible.

His team specifically had been a part of a search crew to look for Harry. Each team was given an item from Harry's school trunk and they tracked his magical signature to his resting place.

That was one thing Jared hadn't been informed about. He had no idea that his magical signature was carried on to his knew life. After receiving this information, he had asked Kevin to keep his status a secret from everyone who didn't already know. Luckily the man agreed, on the promise that Jared would tell him how he was alive, when they had clearly buried Harry Potter's body.

Jared simply told him that he had visited Death and death gave him a change for a new life. He was technically telling the truth, just leaving bitch and pieces out. Kevin agreed that he would not tell and Jared was forever grateful. He didn't want to be Harry again until Death came for him. Not that he told Kevin this.

They then talked over what being a part of the SSD meant. Jared would be classified as an auror, only he would have a code name, and no one, not even the auror department – aside from Kevin and others in the SSD – would know. His code name was 'Swift'. Jared, like Kevin, thought it was ironic. Swift was a common synonym for the turn "Come and Go."

Jared ran a hand through his hair and sat up in his bed. He needed to get his mind off of this. He was not excited, he promised himself.

He was not excited!

He wasn't excited!

… Okay, he was exited.

He sighed. He just needed to get his mind off of things for a bit, he reminded himself, again. Getting on his computer he ran the game Outlast.

Maybe he could scare the excitement out of himself. He really just wanted to put the hero stuff behind him, even if this job promised that no one would know it was him. Maybe that was why he was excited; as well as taking this so well. Maybe it was because he _knew_ no one would _know_.

After about an hour of gaming, and realizing he already knew the outcomes of the game, the turned everything off, ignoring the many Steam messages he was getting from his friends. He just wanted to go to bed.

* * *

Chapter 2

~ End Harry Surfaces **... Or not** ~


	3. The Hero Complex, Code Name: Swift

Chapter 3

~ The Hero Complex, Code Name: Swift~

* * *

"Be safe," Lindsey hugged her son. His parent didn't know exactly what was going on, but Jared had told them some truth. As customary for his training as an SSD he would have to go and train with the American army.

Jared had told his parents that the auror's gave him a chance to train with the army and then further become an auror, or go to prison for one night with a mark on his record. This was true, Kevin's' note had said he would forever be known as a law breaker; even with how juvenile it sounded to Lindsey and Jeffery, he would rather take this road.

They were in the airport right now, Kevin watching them, dressed in his muggle General army wear, as it was customary.

His mom gave Jared one last squeeze before passing him over to his dad. The older man looks at his son and placed a hand on the teen's, almost young adult, shoulder. He gave it a squeeze before tugging Jared, who was almost his height: he noted, into a hug.

"Are you sure about this?" He muttered into Jared's new buzz cut. Jared nodded and wrapped his arms around his dad, who was holding back proud, yet scared tears for his son. He would be able to watch his son play his games, or have their father son outings for a long time.

The man cleared his throat and pulled away slowly, savoring the moment. Other people in the airport were sneaking glances; muggles, because they knew that the 'boy' was going into one of the most, if not the most, dangerous job a person could have, and the wizards and witches, because they knew this meant an auror in training, which meant about the same thing a new soldier meant to the muggles.

Jared gave one more short hug to his mother, kissing her head, before picking up his bag and heading over to Kevin. Kevin then lead him out to the docking station and they stood in line with the rest of the auror's going off to training. Some, Jared noticed, were returning to help train new recruits.

After taking a mass portkey to the facility where him and his fellow trainees would be staying, the trainers split everyone into two groups, boys and girls, before they, including Kevin left them to get situated with one last warning from one very big, muscly man: "Don't get too comfy, kitties, training starts at 0300. If you're late you owe me 50 pushups for every minute you kept me waiting!" He stomped his foot, turned, and march out of the room, the females fallowing behind him to their sleeping quarters.

After a minute of everyone awkwardly picking a bed, Jared settled down on the top bunk three rows in on the left side of the room. There were 30 beds total and all of them were taken.

"So," one of the younger looking males said, "How about we get to know each other? We can go in a circle, bottom bunks then top bunks, stating on the right?" There were nods of agreement and a few 'tch's from some of the older men. "Okay, since I seem to be the first on the right, I'll start!

"My name is Norman Gracious. I am 27 years old and am following in my father's footsteps to become an auror." Norman looked above him and his bunk mate spoke. They both seemed to know each other well, so Jared assumed they were friends before coming here.

After a few people went a name caught his attention. "My name is Neville Longbottom. I am 36 years old, and moved to America about 9 years after the Wizarding War in Scotland. I have to go through auror training again, because they do things differently here than in Britain."

Many nodded in respect to him and Jared had a flash of pain in his chest. How had he forgotten Neville? He looked so different. He was slim and had a scar that stretched from the right side of his chin and disappeared behind his ear. It took everything in him not to show his shock, and could barely manage a nod.

A short while later it was his turn, he had been sneaking glances at Neville the entire time, trying to be discrete. No one had noticed, yet.

Jared cleared his throat and avoided Neville's stair, "My name is Jared Higdon. I am 18 years old, the youngest here as far as I can see." He paused and let out a short laugh, "I'm here because it was become an auror or get a mark on my record."

There were some gasps and, to his surprise, Neville spoke, "What did you do to be _given_ a choice?"

Jared swallowed, "A rogue Death Eater and a prison escapee crashed our local soccer tournament and my friend got hurt… So, without thinking, I kinda stunned the Death Eater and knocked the prisoner out by kicking the soccer ball directly into the bastards face."

One of the older men barked out a laugh, "And you choose _this_ over a mark for something _everyone_ would overlook? Crazy bastard."

Jared smiled, "I guess it's just who I am. To tell you the truth, I was kinda excited about this option; it took me a while to get myself to get over the fact that I was most likely getting myself into something over my head, but I guess you could say I have a hero complex that I just can't seem to get away from."

Many laughed and a guy on the top bunk next to his leaned in slightly and slapped his back, causing both of them to fall. More laughter erupted and Jared had to hold his stomach from the amount of laughter he was giving off.

He never noticed Neville knowing smile as the man, too, laughed. This laughter, however, was from relief, knowing his friend was alive a sound. He wouldn't ruin this though; if this really was his friend, he would let it come to light when it was time. No, he wouldn't force this. Harry, Ehem… Jared deserved this chance of a new start.

* * *

Chapter 3

~ End The Hero Complex, Code Name: **Crazy Bastard** ~


	4. Gamer Boy Syndrome

Chapter 4

~ Gamer Boy Syndrome ~

* * *

It was the next morning when Jared was woken up by none other than the Neville Longbottom himself. He was lucky that in this life his whole family had been morning people, because once he was awake, he was awake. If he hadn't been that way, he would have given up his secret way too fast for his liking.

Neville was the one who was waking everyone up, as he was probably to most use to this sort of thing. Once they were all up and dressed, they headed out and formed a line outside their quarters, in the dark, damp morning.

It was a few minutes later that Kevin showed up. He walked directly over to Jared, "Jared, because of you _situation_ you will be training with me. We also have some things we would like to try with you." Kevin smiled and Jared grumbled.

With a sigh the teen crossed his arms, "And what, _Kevin,_ Have you signed me up for _this_ time?"

Said man chuckled and slapped the younger male on the shoulder in good spirits, "All in good time, my friend."

Jared looked over his shoulder as Kevin pulled him away; "Watch out for this one," he pointed to Kevin, "He's the spawn of Satan, I swear." He turned and faced the direction he was being pulled, hearing the chuckles of his new friends behind him.

To ease the slight tension that had formed, Jared pulled out the cross his mother had given him at birth, "Dear eight pound, and six ounce baby Jesus! Save me from the fate I am to face!"

Kevin decided to play along and dramatically grabbed his heart, "No! This can't be! You're supposed to be pagan. My father WILL hear about this." He put the back of his hand to his forehead, "Father, Satan, my liege, I have failed you…"

"What is going on?" It was the big burly man from last night, "Kevin, you're supposed to scare the new recruits, not make them feel all warm and fuzzy!" Despite his short rant a small smile pulled at his lips, "Leave it to you, softy."

Kevin smile, "Yeah, well I'm going to be taking this one off your hands, Stephen. He's with the SSD crew." Kevin had whispered the last part so the other recruits, who weren't that far behind them, couldn't hear.

Stephen, as the man had been dubbed, nodded his head and patted Jared's shoulder lightly, looking as if he had something to say, but didn't. This made Jared look to Kevin skeptically, who was giving his a "I'm caught" type smile before pulling him again.

They had walk through a building and by the looks of it, was an office building, and made their way outside again. They then headed to a giant tent looking building that said "Testing Station" on it.

"You're taking me to a lab? With needles?"

"No." Kevin said shortly, "This is a testing lab for new ways to train and develop those in the SSD."

Jared nodded and kept walking, "Will you tell me now?"

Keven smiled, "It's to my understanding that when you were younger, you had a case of the Gamer Boy Syndrome, more commonly known as GBS?" Jared nodded. "Whelp," Kevin continued, "we are going to try and find a way to use the technology borne illness as a way to help improve a SSD's skills. Though, if this works, you will be in intense training. So far, every time we've tested, we've tried putting a person into a situation where the character we were… _downloading…_ into them was already a high level with intensified skills."

There was a pause, " _And!?"_ Jared urged.

" _And…_ The people we tested it one had… negative reactions. So we are going to try one more time, on you. Though, this time we are going to start you off as a level one inst-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn't sign up for _this!"_ Jared looked slightly betrayed and yanked his arm away from Kevin.

The old man sighed, "Technically you did…" He pulled Jared's contract from one of the many pockets in his cargo pants and handed it to the blonde. Jared ran a hand through his hair as he re-read the same contract he read just a few weeks ago.

 _… Therefore agreeing to testing new methods of training under any circumstances and necessities… … also agree to the terms of multiple copies of the contract under the preconception that one or more may be damaged or tampered with by an unknown party for any reason…_

Jared crumpled it up and threw it at Kevin, "When I read that, I assumed you mean physical training, not "tamper with my mind and screw me over" training!" Jared was practically shouting now.

Kevin sent a quick silencing spell at the teen and dung in his pocket for the calming draught he'd brought, having guessed that this might happen. Jared drank it down and waited.

When Kevin saw the potion take effect he continued, "You are also the first person we are testing this one with a history of having the illness before. Besides, it's not even really an illness, it's merely your magic going into shock, causing it to quickly adapt to new information being fed to it." He took a breath and looked to the teen. Jared look like a small child, head down and hunched slightly.

"You've already passed your coming of age, you magic is fully matured, yet is still in a state of acceptance. You are… Like a ripe fruit. You're perfect for the testing. We will reverse everything the best we can if things go wrong." Kevin placed a hand on the tall blonde's shoulder, "We made mistakes with this in the past, and we've really done our research this time. Not that we didn't before, but we knew we would be testing it on a young core, and didn't want to risk damaging it." He sighed, "Just trust me, we've gone through every possibility and trained ourselves for many different scenarios, should anything go wrong. Please, Jared, try?"

Jared swallowed and nodded, looking up. He didn't meet Kevin's eyes though. The younger male pointed to his mouth and Kevin removed his spell.

"Will you be there when they are… _downloading…_ everything?" Kevin simply nodded.

"I don't have to be-"

"I want you too." Kevin nodded again and Jared looked into his eyes smiling, "Well, how's that for dramatics? Few, this tension is killing me!" The teen chuckled and patted Kevin's back, "Let's not have any more of this seriousness, okay? It's weird and I don't like it."

Kevin gave a short laugh and nodded, "I agree." He stepped back a little, looking at Jared and giving off a posh look. He slowly extended his arm towards the lab, "Ladies first!"

Jared nodded, "Right, Kevin, go on!" Jared looked smugly at his fast, and much older friend, who looked at him in mock hurt.

Kevin turned away and crossed his arms, "You misogynous white males! I am a _woman_ and I don't need no man!" Jared barked out in laughter as he watched the General march 'angrily' into the tent.

* * *

Chapter 4

~ End Gamer Boy **Illness: Downloading** ~


	5. Processing Information

Chapter 5

~ Possessing Information ~

* * *

Jared sat nervously on the recliner, yes, recliner, they set up for him. They wanted him to be a comfortable and relaxed as possible, so the process would go smoothly. They had changed him out of trainee uniform and dressed him in a suit made of latex that was breathable and had charms to help the person in the suit feel cool in hat conditions, and warm in cold conditions. This would be a suit he would use during both training and out on missions. It was actually quite comfortable, to Jared's pleasure.

The suit would help monitor his body temperature and heart rate, as well as other vital info. This info would inform Kevin's team, whom had been stationed as Jared's team, so to speak. When his heart rate or temperature were as dangerous levels, they were to be somewhere in the background, ready to help out. Jared wouldn't know if his body had taken to dangerous conditions, because of the way the suit worked. The suit was designed to let the wearer fight until their last breath. This made wearing the suit very dangerous and risky.

Jared was slightly scared at this information, but if this made him able to help as many people as possible without need to stop until his literal death, then he would do it. For the people: he convinced himself.

They then connected two tubes to a red and blue opening in the teen's suit. These spots had little needles that Jared, thankfully, didn't even feel. They would only be activated for the experiment, then, if things ran smoothly, would be removed and the suit would be modified so that the two opening weren't present.

"Ready?" This came from one of the nurses in the room. Jared nodded, not trusting his voice.

They then went to filling him in on the process: "We will be programing a level one (beginner) character into your magical core by shocking you. It's a little more difficult than that, but I don't want to stress you out. So, eventually, we are going to be shocking your magical core. The magic will then try to push the intrusion away, by then we will have activated the game menu and force download it into your nerves." She pause noticing his heart rate going up. "Don't worry," she said quickly, "You magic will push away the data, this will cause a shortage, just like the time when you were a child. You might feel a small shock, but the suit _should_ absorb all of it. If anything starts to hurt, please tell me as soon as possible."

Jared's head spun at the amount on information being thrown at him. He knew she was trying to explain it in the simplest way possible, but it was still very confusing to him. He took a few short breaths and nodded.

She nodded back, "Good, let's st-"

"WAIT!" Jared put his arm up. "What game data? I would like to know what type of system I'm working with… _If_ this works."

The nurse nodded, " _When_ it works, your system will have the main character menu of the Fallout game. We will update your system when a new game comes out so that you can have new game features. Are you familiar with Fallout?"

Jared nodded, "Yeah, but Fallout's character menu is accessed through a Pip Boy on the characters left arm. How will I access mine?"

The nurse looked at the computer, clicking a few times, and turned back, "All previous trainees, according to my data, have accessed their menus by tapping twice on their left wrist."

"S-so, the other people you tested on made it to the part where you tested the menu?"

The nurse nodded, brow furrowed, "That's the first thing we test… It's the only thing we've ever had a chance to test, and is when everything starts to go wrong."

Jared put his hand to his chin. "That may be because you tried putting premade character info into their bodies. When you use cheats in a game, no matter what type of cheat it is, there is always a bug of some sort. Because we are humans, you're tricking the body to think it's stronger than it really is."

"Yes, we came to that conclusion. This is why we're starting you out as a level one..."

Jared stopped her again, "Yes, but there's still a problem."

The women looked offended at this accusation. "And what's that?"

"You have to develop the character in the beginning of the game. The first thing you do is learn how to crawl, and then you set your players SPECIAL depending on your strengths and weaknesses. You need to train the character then set it to the lowest settings based on your preferences." He looked at her with a smirk, " _That's_ the problem."

She sniffed, standing straighter. She looked to Kevin for help, who was looking at Jared in shock. "It's common knowledge that you start every game with character development. You never _just_ start as a level one," he added.

A scientist from the other side of the room walked over, "And how do _you_ know that. You're a child."

"Yes, a child who grew up playing video games." I was Kevin who made this comment. The older man thought now would be a good time to help his younger friend out.

The nurse gave a small huff and turn to the screen, there was more clicking before she turned the computer towards the smug looking teen, "How _SPECIAL_ are you."

"Very special… Oh!" Kevin had to chuckle at that. Jared always knew how to break the ice. "I'm athletic, but not really big into heavy exercise. I would set my strength to a 6." She clicked and looked at him again.

They were now on P, "6." More clicking. E: "7." C: "5." I: "5." A: "6."

"And that leaves your luck at 5… Are you sure this is close to your actual physique?" The nurse tapped her foot.

Jared glared, "Do you think I would willingly put myself in danger?"

The woman ignored him and clicked next, "What about this? What three skills should I put in?"

Jared thought: If I don't have any of these skills in real life, it would 'short out' my magic, surly… maybe I shouldn't pick any and just download it at this stage, train for three specific skills first, then choose when I'm ready… yeah, that will work.

"None," he then went on to explaining his theory to them and they agreed this would be the safest and best option. "Okay, now I'm ready."

The nurse copied the information over to a special drive set up for the transfer to his body; and so the process began. Jared didn't really feel anything, much to his surprise.

The machine next to the recliner started to beep and he looked over. It was showing his magic fluctuating at an alarming rate. He took a deep breath when the nurse quietly stated that was supposed to happen.

It was 30 minutes later when the machine stopped beeping and the nurse detached the two tubes. He was then helped out of the chair by Kevin, surprised to find his head spinning, no matter how slow he stood up. Kevin then helped him walk around some until he was fine on his own.

"Time to test your menu."

* * *

Chapter 5

~ End Processing **Complete** ~


	6. Level Up

Chapter 6

~ Level Up! ~

* * *

There were many sighs of relief when nothing bad had happened. Jared double tapped on his left wrist and the menu opened. The options for the skills were still up and wouldn't go away till three were chosen.

This started Jared's training. He was to review helpful charm and spells for "Sneak." The entire morning till 1200 was dedicated to going over charms. After a quick lunch they started on physical training. Jared was taught to run, jog, walk, and march on his toes, to quiet his steps. He was taught to do all this inside an empty room with concrete walls and floors, outside on pavement, on a dirt road, and also did some training in the woods. He knew he wasn't going to learn in right away, but it was a start.

At 1800 they had dinner in the lab, checking the menu to see if anything changed. Later, at 2300, he was sent off to bed. He was allowed to stay in the same quarters as the rest of the trainees, much to his relief. He would have gone crazy if they confined him more.

Questions were asked about his day. Some had said that they spotted him running outside while they were eating. He had simply told them that he was training to be light on his toes. Everyone had excepted this, and even though they all wanted more, Jared had simply told them it was classified until further notice.

The routine carried on for an entire week. Jared had been very hard on himself, and didn't slack off one bit. They even put him on the training course for 6 hours strain one night to test his agility skills, while he tried to be as silent as he could without the help of his magic.

It had been a hard week, but Jared was far more advance in his new found ability that he should be, he blamed this on how hard and intense he worked himself. He didn't want to risk what was to come before he thought it was secure on _his_ terms.

"Choose 'Sneak' and let see what happens," Barb, his nurse, said softly. The all held their breath as his choose the tab.

A (1/3) showed up in the top left corner of the tiny 6' by 12' screen coming from his wrist. Other than that nothing changed. They let their breaths and silently cheered for their success.

"Maybe we could try choosing the three we want to train you on and submit it after your training?" Kevin looked between the two for conformation.

Barb looked to Kevin the Jared. She nodded, "Try it."

Jared nodded and pressed the "Melee Weapons" option. He immediately started screaming. A shock of electricity surge through his body and the suit was doing nothing to help. Everyone in the room gathered around trying to help.

Kevin was the first to think of trying to click the option again, and did so without clearance. Jared's screams stopped altogether and he passed out. The "Melee Weapons" option went dull. Kevin started to panic.

Turns out, Jared's magic had strained to for the unknown talent into Jared's body. After a good grilling from Barb, Kevin was informed that Jared would be fine, and that he was cleared to continue experimentation if he felt up to it.

Later that night, Jared woke up to a massive headache. As soon as his eyes were open a potion was shoved under his nose. He took it from whoever it was and drank it, not caring what it was at this point. The pounding in his head was gone in a matter of minute and he sight cleared up. Now all he had left was a dull pain that would soon go away all together.

"I'm not doing that again." The person who handed him the potion laughed slightly and Jared turned.

Kevin gave him a smile, "You can say that again." Jared smiled back. "I'm just glad you didn't kill yourself. If the suit hadn't been one, you would have driven yourself mad with pain, no doubt about it."

Jared nodded, taking in his surroundings. They were back in the men quarters for the trainees, though it was still light outside. Jared looked at Kevin and the man spoke, "You can rest today; melee and hand-to-hand training starts tomorrow."

"Both at once?"

Kevin scoffed at Jared, "Really, Jared? No, not both at once! We will do melee in the morning and hand-to-hand combat at night. This way we get those skills up as quickly as possible so that you can move on to the next part of your character development."

Jared thought about it and nodded, "Good idea."

They promptly started talking about the schedule for the next week. 0300 to 1200 was melee training. 1230 to 2300 would be hand-to-hand. On Thursday they would switch the schedule, hand-to-hand in the morning and melee at night. This was to ensure that he had an even amount of training. Then on Sunday he would open his menu and finish the first part of his character development, hopefully.

Later that night at 1800, about an hour before the others were meant to be back, Kevin said his goodbyes and left Jared to think. Thought, he wasn't doing much thinking, because as soon at his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light. Not even the loud groans of pain from his mates could wake he sleeping body.

The entire week of training had left Jared so sore he was begging Barb to let him sleep in his suit, only so he would have such a hard time finding a comfortable position to fall asleep in at night. They had trained him in melee using staffs of all lengths, wooden knives shaped like bayonets and karambits, and even trained in using different types of guns as melee, incase ammo ever ran out.

The only thing Jared had to say about melee was that he absolutely hated it. Though, he would choose melee over hand-to-hand any day of the week.

Hand-to-hand… The train the blonde teen to have the _perfect_ form, they trained him in basic Karate; they even worked on his gymnastics as part of his hand-to-hand training. When he said he was an athlete, he meant in the running, kick a ball towards someone kinda way. He did NOT, under any circumstances, realize how much he hated exercise until the end of the week.

When Sunday finally came, he was both grateful and scared to move on. Carefully, he choose the "Melee Weapons" and waited. When nothing happened he sighed and choose "Unarmed." Still nothing happened.

Jared realized he should probable pick the option to continue. When he did he suddenly felt lighter that before. A new screen popped up, "Character Name: |_" and under it was a keyboard made of lights. Jared typed his name and an error popped up.

 _Only A-Z and a-z characters are aloud. Please choose again._

Jared stared for a while before he remembered that Fallout didn't let you pick a last name. He then settled for just his first name.

After that a new screen popped up. His character screen. I showed a list of five tabs at the bottom of the screen, in the middle was an image of the Fallout man with health bars for specific parts of his body. On the left side were his CND, RAD, and EFF. At the very top it showed his level, HP, AP, and XP and well as the name of the tab he was in. It also had another feature that the game didn't have: A manual on how his 'Pip Boy' worked.

Jared explored the tabs, ignoring Barb's concerns about moving too fast in the experiment. He saw that his map had been created based on everything he had ever seen in his lives. He had a world map of the whole world, which was different that in Fallout, but Jared didn't mind, as it wasn't effecting him as far as he was concerned. He could zoom in, but he could only zoom into his location, he would have to move the map around with his finger in order to see what was around it. He could also choose a location to travel to and the dotted path had shown up. A smaller screen popped up asking if he wanted to fast travel. He quickly exited out of it, not wanting to test that out just yet. Jared had a suspicion that "fast traveling" would be just like apparition.

He then went into his items and saw that he could carry up to 260 lbs. He figured that he had the Fallout 4 system because the starting carry capacity was 200 + (ST x 10). His strength was at 6 meaning that the math carried over. He also noticed that 10 lbs. were already taken up. He looked into his inventory and saw that the space was taken up by the Hallows.

Jared should have known. He hadn't seen them at all during this life, and they _always_ popped up somewhere. So, Death had planned for this to be the moment he received his Hallows. Jared had to give props to Death and his dramatic flair.

He inspected each of the Hallows and found that by equipping his cloak – which had the "Pocketed misc." status - it would add + 5 to his carry capacity. This meant he would have 265 lbs. total when he wore his cloak.

Jared read up on what Pocketed misc. and Deep Pocketed misc. meant for him in the long run. They ended up being the same thing; only Deep Pocketed misc. gave him +10 lbs., instead of +5 like Pocketed misc. did.

The teen wasn't surprised to see that his suit didn't have any perks, other than the ones Barb had told him about.

"Having fun?" This was Kevin.

Jared glared, "Yes, now shush. Leave me to explore my new ability."

Barb laughed lightly, "I wouldn't call it that. It's merely a physical manifestation of your unseen physical abilities. You still have to work in order to level up and gain anything." She tapped his data tab, "Even your PB, as we will now call it, has limits."

Jared nodded and closed his PB. "Now to talk about leveling up," he stated.

The female of their little group gasped, "Already? The amount of training you've done already leaves _me_ tired. Don't you won't to take a break and celebrate our progress?"

"No," the teen shook his head, "we don't have time to celebrate." He turned to Kevin, "If you let me, could I use the facility as needed to level up?"

Kevin looked bewildered, "Jared, you need to rest for a while and take it easy. We can start tomorrow. I will also grant you your wishes to use the facility, but I will accompany you and you have to clear it up with me before we do anything, understand?"

Jared nodded and Kevin added, "I will also set up a schedule with prefilled in spots for meals and sleep. You are not to break this schedule, am I clear?" Jared nodded again.

Kevin smiled, "I'm glad you're taking responsibility to train, while I have to practically force you other mates off their asses every time they take a break."

Jared smiled and laughed, "You got that right, Kev. Now, Barb, since I'm not _cleared_ to start till tomorrow, I might as well party tonight."

Barb grinned and threw her arm around her charges shoulder. She struggled because of the height difference, but she held tight nonetheless.

* * *

Chapter 6

~ End Level **ed** Up ~


End file.
